CSA Harvest Week #2

Hi there,
Things were a bit rushed last week with getting the CSA started and all and throughout the past week I realized a long list of things I wished I had shared right at the beginning of the CSA. - Mostly about how to handle the share once you get it home. So let's start with what's in the share this week:

kale, head lettuce, radishes, garlic scapes, komatsuna, dill, swiss chard and salad mix

1) identify - In any given week there will tend to be some oddball crops like garlic scapes or komatsuna.

Garlic scapes (green curliques) are the flowering portion of the garlic plant. We trim these so the energy of the plant will go into the root/bulb instead of the flower. Lucky us, they are tasty too, especially when all of last season's garlic is long gone and we have another month or so until the fresh young garlic is harvested. You can chop these up and use just as you would fresh garlic. The flavor is a bit more mild but great for pesto, stir-fries, etc. You can also cut these into about 2 inch lengths and cook them almost like a green bean!

Komatsuna - think bok choy and use as you would any other kind of Asian greens. A nice saute comes to mind as the best use of this type of leafy green. With a little fresh grated ginger, your garlic scapes, a little soy sauce and you're there. Delish.

2) plan- Let me take a tiny minute to talk about meal planning. Sounds boring? Actually this can be a great boon for a busy family and actually gives you a tremendous amount of freedom. That sounds a little counter intuitive, does it? Well try it out and then see what you think. For example, this week you've got 3 types of cooking greens in the share. Fantastic if you are happy eating steamed greens etc. as a side at every meal (than this is not even close to enough greens for the week) but if you aren't used to that is a good idea to have a few standbys in your weekly menu. Where can you plug them in during the week? Stir-fry, as a side, in quiche or with eggs, in pasta. You'll see it is easy to fit them in just about anywhere. Honestly at this early stage in the season it isn't that hard to come up with ways to use up the share. We'll be getting more creative as the bounty increases.

3) clean and storage - You'll want to clean the lettuces well in a salad spinner before you eat them. Yes, you really really need a salad spinner. It will be your nest friend in the kitchen - almost as important as a good knife. We do wash the greens at the farm but this is to get the field dirt and heat off the greens. We don't want to handle tender greens any more than necessary before they get to our members.  If you have the chance to do all the washing and storage right when you get the share it'll make the rest of the week a breeze. Also you can wash and take the tops off any root veggies - radishes, beets, carrots, etc. Keeping the greens on will dehydrate your roots and make them limp. Herbs- the best way to keep herbs is to stick them in a glass of water in the fridge with a plastic bag over the top. Wash when ready to use (especially basil!).

If there are seasoned CSA members who have their own tricks to handling the harvest please add them below in the comments.

Enjoy!
Tracy